Featuring scholarly and practitioner insights from HR and people leaders, industry experts, and researchers.

In this HCI Webinar, I talk with Guy Berger about new data that shows that immigration policy is slowing the jobs market. Guy Berger is a macroeconomist with expertise in US labor markets. Aside from his role as Chief Economist at Homebase, he is currently Senior Advisor on Labor Markets at Access/Macro. He was previously the Principal Economist at LinkedIn, and has also worked as an economist at Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Scotland. His work includes the creation of novel economic indicators, the development of models linking the macroeconomy to business performance, and the design of economic reports. His commentary has been featured frequently in the media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Marketplace, CNBC, Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, and Axios. Guy holds a doctorate in economics from Yale University.

This research examines turnover contagion, a sociological phenomenon where an individual's choice to resign spreads through a workplace by influencing coworkers to consider quitting as well. It explains that this cascading effect is heavily driven by job embeddedness, meaning that tightly connected employees with strong workplace and community ties are far less susceptible to leaving. To combat these destructive loops, the literature highlights evidence-based interventions such as cohort-based onboarding, team-level diagnostics, and deliberate community-building initiatives. Furthermore, the research emphasizes that managerial leadership is crucial for maintaining team stability and monitoring early signs of disengagement. Ultimately, the research argues that organizations must treat retention as a collective social process rather than an isolated individual decision to ensure long-term stability.

This research examines turnover contagion, a sociological phenomenon where an individual's choice to resign spreads through a workplace by influencing coworkers to consider quitting as well. It explains that this cascading effect is heavily driven by job embeddedness, meaning that tightly connected employees with strong workplace and community ties are far less susceptible to leaving. To combat these destructive loops, the literature highlights evidence-based interventions such as cohort-based onboarding, team-level diagnostics, and deliberate community-building initiatives. Furthermore, the research emphasizes that managerial leadership is crucial for maintaining team stability and monitoring early signs of disengagement. Ultimately, the research argues that organizations must treat retention as a collective social process rather than an isolated individual decision to ensure long-term stability.

This research examines turnover contagion, a sociological phenomenon where an individual's choice to resign spreads through a workplace by influencing coworkers to consider quitting as well. It explains that this cascading effect is heavily driven by job embeddedness, meaning that tightly connected employees with strong workplace and community ties are far less susceptible to leaving. To combat these destructive loops, the literature highlights evidence-based interventions such as cohort-based onboarding, team-level diagnostics, and deliberate community-building initiatives. Furthermore, the research emphasizes that managerial leadership is crucial for maintaining team stability and monitoring early signs of disengagement. Ultimately, the research argues that organizations must treat retention as a collective social process rather than an isolated individual decision to ensure long-term stability.

Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of turnover contagion—the process by which employees' decisions to leave an organization spread to and influence the quitting behavior of their coworkers. Drawing on the foundational research of Felps et al. (2009), which demonstrated that coworkers' job embeddedness and job search behaviors predict individual voluntary turnover above and beyond traditional attitudinal predictors, this article translates meso-level turnover theory into practical organizational guidance. The discussion synthesizes social comparison theory, job embeddedness theory, and contemporary workforce data to explain why turnover cascades through work groups and what organizational leaders can do to interrupt the cycle. Five evidence-based intervention strategies are presented—spanning embeddedness-building, socialization design, managerial capability development, stay conversation practices, and team composition management—each illustrated with organizational examples. The article concludes with a forward-looking framework for building long-term retention resilience in an era of persistent engagement decline and evolving employee expectations.

This research examines turnover contagion, a sociological phenomenon where an individual's choice to resign spreads through a workplace by influencing coworkers to consider quitting as well. It explains that this cascading effect is heavily driven by job embeddedness, meaning that tightly connected employees with strong workplace and community ties are far less susceptible to leaving. To combat these destructive loops, the literature highlights evidence-based interventions such as cohort-based onboarding, team-level diagnostics, and deliberate community-building initiatives. Furthermore, the research emphasizes that managerial leadership is crucial for maintaining team stability and monitoring early signs of disengagement. Ultimately, the research argues that organizations must treat retention as a collective social process rather than an isolated individual decision to ensure long-term stability.

Recent research examining Generation Z workers in Surabaya demonstrates that younger employees forge work commitment directly from everyday experiences like flexibility and workplace quality rather than relying on general job satisfaction as a stepping stone. Drawing on social exchange theory, studies reveal that tangible organizational support, constructive supervisory behaviors, and psychological safety heavily influence employee retention and performance. To successfully secure early-career loyalty, organizations must move beyond traditional annual surveys and instead focus on redesigning daily work experiences, providing authentic onboarding, and establishing predictable schedule controls. Ultimately, fostering genuine employee commitment requires leaders to consistently honor reciprocal psychological contracts through practical, everyday actions rather than relying on generational stereotypes.

Recent research examining Generation Z workers in Surabaya demonstrates that younger employees forge work commitment directly from everyday experiences like flexibility and workplace quality rather than relying on general job satisfaction as a stepping stone. Drawing on social exchange theory, studies reveal that tangible organizational support, constructive supervisory behaviors, and psychological safety heavily influence employee retention and performance. To successfully secure early-career loyalty, organizations must move beyond traditional annual surveys and instead focus on redesigning daily work experiences, providing authentic onboarding, and establishing predictable schedule controls. Ultimately, fostering genuine employee commitment requires leaders to consistently honor reciprocal psychological contracts through practical, everyday actions rather than relying on generational stereotypes.